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<font size="+2"><font face="Calibri"><i><b>June</b></i></font></font><font
size="+2" face="Calibri"><i><b> 11, 2023</b></i></font><font
face="Calibri"><br>
</font> <font face="Calibri"> </font> <br>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ BBC ponders ]</i></font><br>
<b>Canada wildfires: Will they change how people think about climate
change?</b><br>
By Richard Fisher<br>
8th June 2023<br>
With poor air quality and orange skies across the US east coast,
some have speculated it could influence beliefs on climate change.
Richard Fisher explores what the psychological research has to say.<br>
In the 1500s, the artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder produced a
painting about people's indifference to distant suffering. Called
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, a copy of the original that's now
on display in Brussels shows a farmer ploughing his field in the
foreground. It's only when you look carefully that you can see
Icarus drowning in the sea in the distance, surrounded by melted
feathers, his legs flailing in the air.<br>
More than a decade ago, the psychologists Nira Liberman and Yaacov
Trope used Bruegel's painting to introduce an idea in the journal
Science that describes how time and distance shape people's
attitudes – and specifically, their empathy towards others. They
called it "construal level theory". The farmer is indifferent to the
plight of Icarus, they argued, because he is far away. With
geographical distance comes psychological distance.<br>
<br>
It's an idea that holds particular relevance this week as the east
coast of North America experiences low air quality and dystopian
orange skies due to wildfires in Canada. Some on social media –
notably quite a few Californians who have already faced such impacts
– have speculated that the pollution may sharpen the realities of
climate change for many east coasters. Could it change hearts and
minds, they wonder, because the impacts are so close to home? Others
pointed to the symbolism of the United Nations building in New York
City, shrouded in smog.<br>
How much truth is there to this? Do climate impacts that are "near"
in time and space change people's attitudes towards mitigation and
adaptation?..<br>
According to construal level theory, people's awareness and
willingness to act on climate change should, in principle, be
influenced by how psychologically close they perceive its impacts to
be. If they formerly believed climate change was mainly about
melting ice caps, drought in the developing world or disappearing
island nations – and all those are far away in space and time – then
their concern should be lower. In 2011, one psychologist referred to
psychological distance as one of the "dragons of inaction" for
preventing climate change.<br>
<br>
This isn't necessarily callous behaviour, according to
psychologists. In Bruegel's painting, the farmer has more immediate
needs and priorities – perhaps he's intent on feeding his own family
– so it's harder to notice and extend empathy towards Icarus's
suffering in the ocean far away. People's circle of concern is often
drawn near to them, meaning that they will care more about someone
close to home, rather than on the opposite side of the world...<br>
- -<br>
However, on reviewing the literature up to 2020, the psychologist
Roberta Maiella of G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara in
Italy and colleagues found that the reality was more complex and
nuanced than first appears.<br>
<br>
There is indeed evidence that proximity to climate impacts
influences people's views. For example, in 2011 Alexa Spence of the
University of Nottingham and colleagues surveyed UK residents
exposed to coastal flooding, and found that they perceived greater
uncertainty about the climate and more willingness to restrict
energy use. And another study of participants in 24 countries showed
that people with personal experience of climate change were more
likely to do things like use less air conditioning in the summer.<br>
<br>
However, not all studies have confirmed the correlation as strong,
and the methodologies to study the effect differ. In one study where
US participants were presented with the impact of climate change in
the Maldives, researchers used cues that aimed to reduce people's
psychological distance and make the remote island nation feel
nearer. This included asking them to trace the distance from Ithaca
in New York to the remote island nation on a map, and watch a video
about how sea level rise was affecting Maldives citizens. People
given these cues judged the Maldives to be spatially closer, but
crucially, this didn't translate into increased support for climate
change mitigation policies.<br>
<br>
People's prior political affiliation may also matter. One 2020 study
of Californians’ response to nearby wildfires suggested that close
exposure to damage fostered support for pro-environmental policies
in Democratic areas, but not Republican ones...<br>
- -<br>
So will the awful air and darkened skies in New York City and other
east coast cities influence people's attitudes there? Perhaps for
some – but there are clearly other effects at play that influence
beliefs.<br>
<br>
There do seem to be ways to reduce psychological distance over
climate change through effective communication. For instance,
there's a well-known trick that charities often use called the
"identifiable victim effect". When people are presented with a
single human being facing the effects of climate change, this can
foster greater empathy. In one study by psychologists Sabine Pahl at
the University of Plymouth and Judith Bauer at the University of
Erlangen in Germany, people were told a detailed story about a woman
living in the future facing the impact of climate change. The pair
told people how she'd burn her skin outside in the Sun, or get a
rash after swimming in a polluted sea. Compared with those who had
been given more "fact-focused" information about future warming,
people who heard the woman's story were more likely to spend time
reading about climate change afterwards.<br>
<br>
In sum, psychological distance is shaped by more than geography
alone. But the evidence suggests that when climate change comes to
people's neighbourhoods, it's likely to influence how many see it.<br>
<br>
<i> Richard Fisher is a senior journalist for BBC Future and the
author of The Long View: Why We Need to Change How the World Sees
Time.</i><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230608-canada-wildfires-will-they-change-climate-attitudes-on-us-east-coast">https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230608-canada-wildfires-will-they-change-climate-attitudes-on-us-east-coast</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font> </p>
<font face="Calibri"> <i>[ Excellent report from USA Today June
10, 2023 ] </i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> </font> <font face="Calibri"><b>Climate
change warnings started in the late 1800s. Here's what humanity
knew and when.</b><br>
Dinah Voyles Pulver<br>
USA TODAY<br>
</font><font face="Calibri">Political misinformation continues to
swirl around the climate change discussion like a thick fog
rolling in off the rising ocean. But a host of government
documents and reports by researchers and historians lay a clear
trail of what scientists and government officials knew and when.
<br>
<br>
Scientists had already figured out by the late 1800s that a
greenhouse effect works to keep the planet warm, and that the
carbon dioxide produced by burning coal could enhance that effect.
By the 1970s, researchers were measuring those emissions in the
atmosphere and warning Earth’s temperature could warm between 0.5
and 5 degrees Celsius by the mid-21st century.<br>
<br>
Fifty years later, the vast majority of scientists agreed the
global average temperature was already one degree Celsius higher
than it had been in the late 1800s and had been rising at a rate
of .2 degrees Celsius every decade since the 1970s. <br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Some people continue to wrongly characterize
climate change as a new fad</b><br>
Despite the long history of scientific and military documents that
chronicle warming temperatures, rising sea levels and more extreme
weather around the world, people often repeat misconceptions and
share inaccurate information.<br>
<br>
In one of the latest examples, presidential contender Ron
DeSantis, governor of one of the states most vulnerable to climate
change, brought up warming during a May 24 FOX News interview with
Trey Gowdy. <br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">When Gowdy asked about the U.S. military,
DeSantis replied: <br>
- - “You talk about things like global warming that they’re
somehow concerned about, and that’s not the military I served in.”<br>
<br>
But the military, including the Navy, has been worried about
climate change for decades.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">“DeSantis is wrong,” says Peter Gleick, a
co-founder and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, who has
studied the U.S. military’s climate change research for more than
30 years.<br>
<br>
Navy officials talked about the impacts of climate change more
than 15 years before DeSantis joined the Navy in 2004.</font><br>
<blockquote><font face="Calibri"> -- “We are all aware of possible
threats posed by global climate change,” retired Navy Admiral
James Watkins told members of Congress in February 1989, after
being nominated by President George H.W. Bush to serve as
Secretary of Energy. </font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> -- By 2001, Navy submarines had documented
a “striking” thinning of new Arctic Ocean ice.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> -- The Navy conducted a two-day symposium
in 2001 to evaluate potential operations needed in an
ice-diminished Arctic. </font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> -- The Navy issued its “Climate Change Road
Map” in 2010, the year DeSantis left active duty. It stated:
“Climate change is a national security challenge with strategic
implications for the Navy.”</font><br>
</blockquote>
<font face="Calibri"><b>What we knew and when about climate change</b><br>
For more than 150 years, scientists have built on the work of
others before them to identify the role of carbon dioxide
emissions in warming the Earth.<br>
<br>
“Any politician today that denies the reality of climate change is
either grossly ignorant of more than a century of science or is
deliberately misleading the public for political reasons,” Gleick
said. <br>
</font><font face="Calibri">- -</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Concerns about coal burning crop up early</b><br>
</font><font face="Calibri"><b>1300s</b> – King Edward of England
bans coal burning, blaming it for thick, black smoke choking the
air in London.<br>
<br>
<b>1700s</b> – Coal-powered factories begin appearing in Great
Britain as the first Industrial Revolution begins in Europe. <br>
<br>
<b>1861</b> – Irish physicist John Tyndall writes that water vapor
and gasses such as carbon dioxide create the Earth’s greenhouse
effect, trapping the Sun’s heat and keeping the planet warm. <br>
<b><br>
</b><b>1896 </b>–Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius publishes a
study that shows he “knows that increasing carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere will raise temperatures, and acknowledges that burning
fossil fuels are a source of carbon dioxide, but stops just short
of explicitly predicting man-made global warming,” said Robert
Rohde, lead scientist for Berkeley Earth. Arrhenius connected the
dots in his later work.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">U.S. geologist Thomas Chamberlin at the
University of Chicago, who studied glaciers in the Arctic, also
writes about carbon dioxide’s role in regulating the Earth’s
temperature.<br>
<br>
<b>1912</b> – A New Zealand newspaper warns burning coal could
eventually change the climate. The piece was based on a Popular
Mechanics magazine article published earlier that year that
mentioned the work of Arrhenius...<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Climate change conversation continues as
research advances</b><br>
The era from the 1950s to the 1970s ushers in more scientific
progress and data collection.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>1958</b> – Scientist C. David Keeling with
the Scripps Institution of Oceanography begins direct measurements
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at the Mauna Loa Observatory
in Hawaii. In the 65 years since then, carbon dioxide
concentrations have climbed from 315.98 parts per million to
423.78, a 34% increase.<br>
<br>
<b>1970 </b>– Meteorologist George S. Benton at Johns Hopkins
University writes "Carbon Dioxide and its Role in Climate Change"
for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He says:<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Calibri">- - A 10% increase in carbon
dioxide should result in an average temperature increase of
about .3 degrees Celsius.<br>
- - Some local temperatures have warmed as much as 3-4 degrees
Celsius.<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Calibri"><b>1974 </b>– The Central Intelligence Agency
publishes the report “A Study of Climatological Research as it
Pertains to Intelligence Problems.” The agency notes detrimental
global climatic change and calls for more federally funded
research, saying: “It is increasingly evident that the
intelligence community must understand the magnitude of
international threats which occur as a function of climatic
change.” <br>
<br>
<b>1975</b> – Geochemist Wallace Broecker of Columbia University's
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory publishes a study titled:
"Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global
Warming?"<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Research advances open information
floodgates during Carter Administration </b><br>
By the late 1970s, the phrase “climate change” began regularly
appearing in academic research papers, government reports and even
newspaper stories. <br>
<br>
After President Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976, several key
developments occur, including a panel he commissioned to look at
concentrations of carbon dioxide and a study for the Department of
Energy.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>1977</b> – In a July letter to Carter, his
science adviser, geophysicist Frank Press, notes: <br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Calibri">- - Fossil fuel combustion has
increased “at an exponential rate” over 100 years</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">-- Carbon dioxide is 12% above the
pre-industrial revolution level and could grow 1.5 to 2 times
that level within 60 years, increasing warning anywhere from
0.5-5 degrees Celsius</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">-- Rapid increase could be “catastrophic” </font><br>
</blockquote>
<font face="Calibri"><b>1978</b> – In one of the earliest references
to climate change in the news media, Newsweek publishes a story by
Peter Gwynne and Sharon Begley, during a tough winter, with heavy
rain and mudslides in California. <br>
<br>
The authors asked if the Earth is moving into a period of colder
weather and climatologists said climate change isn’t temporary
weather but what happens over decades.<br>
“A growing number of meteorologists think that, rather than
cooling, the atmosphere is actually warming up,” the story stated.
“And if the world is getting warmer, the main reason is a rise in
the atmosphere’s level of carbon dioxide.”<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>July 1980 –</b> The Global 2000 Study Report
to the President, written by a team co-led by Martha Garrett and
Gerald Barney, moves the conversation about environmental
challenges fully into American politics. Among its findings: <br>
<br>
</font><font face="Calibri">- Even a 1 degree Celsius rise would
make the earth’s climate warmer than in 1,000 years</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">- A carbon dioxide-induced temperature rise is
expected to be 3 or 4 times greater at the poles than in the
middle latitudes. (Today, federal officials say the Arctic is
warming more than twice as fast as anywhere else in the world and
at an even greater pace in some locations and at some times of the
year.)</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>December 1980 – </b>The probable outcome of
the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is “beyond human
experience,” reports a sweeping study by the American Association
for the Advancement of Science for the Energy Department. The
report states, that CO2-triggered climate change could:<br>
<br>
- - Cause floods and droughts, leading to malnutrition and famine.<br>
- - "Pit nation against nation and group against group.''<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Roger Revelle, former president of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, says if carbon dioxide
levels doubled by mid-21st century, average global temperatures
would increase by 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the Associated Press
reports. <br>
<br>
<b>1988 </b>– James Hansen, with NASA’s Goddard Space Institute,
and George Woodwell, director of the Woods Hole Research Center,
tell members of the U.S. Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources
committee that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising
and responsible for increases in global average temperature and
warming at higher latitudes.<br>
<br>
<b>1989</b> – The National Academy of Sciences — now led by Press,
Carter's former science adviser — sends a letter to
President-elect George H.W. Bush, urging him to place the threat
of increasing global temperatures high on his agenda and to seek
alternatives to coal, oil and other pollutants that fuel global
warming. <br>
<br>
Gleick publishes a study that notes widespread attention to
concerns about how climate change and other environmental problems
could affect international security and recommends responses to
minimize adverse consequences.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>1990 </b>– The U.S. Navy War College
presents a report to the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence,
“Global Climate Change: Implications for the United States.” in
what Gleick says is the first explicit acknowledgement of the
potential threat of climate change to national security.<br>
<br>
<b>1991</b> – The Bush administration’s National Security Strategy
of the United States mentions the climate peril twice, saying
environmental concerns such as climate change and deforestation
were “already contributing to political conflict.”<br>
<br>
<b>1997 </b>– Members of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change adopt the Kyoto Protocol in Kyoto, Japan in
December. It receives 84 signatures over the next 15 months. <br>
<br>
<b>1998 </b>– The federal government declassifies data gathered
by Navy submarines on Arctic sea ice thickness, information deemed
essential to examining how global climate change affects ice
cover.<br>
<br>
<b>1999</b> – As the millennium closes, researchers Michael Mann,
Raymond Bradley and Malcolm Hughes reconstruct historical
temperatures and suggest warming in the latter half of the century
is unlike anything in at least 1,000 years. It became widely known
as the hockey stick theory, for the line that shows the abrupt
increase in later years.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>A new century</b><br>
<b>2002</b> – The National Academies of Science releases the
report: “Abrupt Climate Change, Inevitable Surprises.” <br>
<br>
<b>2003</b> – Abrupt climate change could pose “specific
consequences to the US military,” writes retired Navy Rear Admiral
Richard Pittenger and oceanographer Robert Gagosian in a piece for
Defense Horizons. They say it “seems a useful exercise to
contemplate the military ramifications of potential, abrupt
climate changes."<br>
<br>
<b>2009</b> – U.S. Navy creates a Climate Change Task Force to
recommend actions the Navy should take in response to sudden
changes in the Arctic marine environment. Rear Admiral David
Titley, who led the task force, later said counter arguments
presented during the research “fell apart in the face of
overwhelming evidence.”<br>
<br>
By 2010, the task force releases an “Arctic Roadmap” and a Navy
Climate Change roadmap. Among the statements:<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Calibri">- - Arctic is warming twice as fast
as the rest of the globe.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">-- “The current scientific consensus
indicates the Arctic may experience nearly ice free summers
sometime in the 2030's.”</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">-- Climate change is "affecting military
installations and access to natural resources worldwide.”</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">-- 2015 – An Inside Climate News
investigation reports Exxon and Exxon Mobil Corp. accurately
predicted human caused global warming between 1977 and 2003 but
"suppressed the information"</font><br>
</blockquote>
<font face="Calibri"><b>2019 </b>– A Department of Defense report
during the administration of President Donald Trump says dozens of
bases are experiencing climate change challenges, including rising
sea levels, thawing permafrost, drought and wildfires.<br>
<br>
<b>2021 </b>– Department of Defense risk analysis warns “to keep
the nation secure, we must tackle the existential threat of
climate change. The unprecedented scale of wildfires, floods,
droughts, typhoons, and other extreme weather events of recent
months and years have damaged our installations and bases,
constrained force readiness and operations, and contributed to
instability around the world.”<br>
<br>
<b>In June 2023</b>, Titley, the retired rear admiral who led the
Navy's 2009-10 task force, told USA TODAY the military is "always
interested in changes (political, economic, demographic,
agricultural, engineering, technology, etc) that will impact war
fighting, readiness, and the capabilities of both ourselves and
any potential adversaries."<br>
<br>
When people asked him why the military would be interested in
climate change, Titley said he responded with his own question.
“Why wouldn’t we be if it impacting warfighting and readiness? It
would be negligent and a disservice of our Soldiers, Sailors,
Airmen and Marines not to think through the changes that will be
caused by a changing climate."<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/06/10/timeline-of-climate-change-what-humanity-knew-and-when/70273996007/">https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/06/10/timeline-of-climate-change-what-humanity-knew-and-when/70273996007/</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><i>[ first to go to trial, June 12 ] </i><br>
</font> <font face="Calibri"><b>Youth Are Suing Montana for
Failing to Protect Their Future From Climate Chaos</b><br>
The lawsuit is based on Montana’s state constitution, which
enshrines the right to a clean and healthful environment.<br>
<br>
By Marjorie Cohn, TRUTHOUT<br>
Published June 10, 2023<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">In a case that could have far-reaching
implications for the struggle against the climate crisis, the
trial in a lawsuit brought by a group of youth plaintiffs will
begin in Montana on June 12. Besides being the first such case
about climate change to go to trial, Held v. Montana involves
the specific impacts the climate crisis has on young people.<br>
<br>
This trial is a bellwether for other cases throughout the United
States. Mat dos Santos, general counsel for Our Children’s
Trust, which represents the youth plaintiffs, said that the
lawsuit “is not just about Montana. It’s really about the
climate here in the United States and around the world.” If this
suit is successful, it would be a “watershed moment” that could
lead to a “cascade of legal victories around the country,” dos
Santos added, and would likely have global implications.<br>
<br>
In 2020, 16 youths who were then between 2 and 18 years of age
filed a complaint against the State of Montana, its governor and
other state officials. The youth plaintiffs, as they are
referred to in the case, maintain that they have been and will
continue to be harmed by the dangerous effects of fossil fuels
and the climate crisis.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Their 104-page complaint alleges, “Children
are uniquely vulnerable to the consequences of the climate
crisis, which harms Youth Plaintiffs’ physical and psychological
health and safety, interferes with family and cultural
foundations and integrity, and causes economic deprivations.”
The crisis is “degrading and depleting Montana’s unique and
precious environment and natural resources, which the Youth
Plaintiffs depend on for their safety and survival.” The
complaint adds that youth are “disproportionately harmed” and
face “life-long hardships” as a result of climate change.<br>
<br>
Montana, which has the nation’s largest coal reserves, has
warmed more than most of the contiguous states in the U.S.
because northern latitudes heat faster, the complaint says. Due
to the warming climate, Montana’s snowpack has been decreasing
and is likely to continue decreasing with rising temperatures.
Wildfires — which impact ecosystems, property and livelihoods —
are expected to get significantly worse unless immediate steps
are taken to limit global heating.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://truthout.org/articles/youth-are-suing-montana-for-failing-to-protect-their-future-from-climate-chaos/">https://truthout.org/articles/youth-are-suing-montana-for-failing-to-protect-their-future-from-climate-chaos/</a></font>
</p>
<p>- -</p>
<p>[ Clips from the fairly readable filed complaint -
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://climatecasechart.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2020/20200313_docket-CDV-2020-307_complaint.pdf">http://climatecasechart.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2020/20200313_docket-CDV-2020-307_complaint.pdf</a>
] <br>
</p>
<blockquote>2. The Youth Plaintiffs to this proceeding are children
and youth in Montana, between the<br>
ages of two (2) and eighteen (18), who have been and will continue
to be harmed by the<br>
dangerous impacts of fossil fuels and the climate crisis. Children
are uniquely vulnerable<br>
to the consequences of the climate crisis, which harms Youth
Plaintiffs’ physical and<br>
psychological health and safety, interferes with family and
cultural foundations and<br>
integrity, and causes economic deprivations...<br>
- -<br>
8. Although Defendants know that Youth Plaintiffs are living under
dangerous climatic<br>
conditions that create an unreasonable risk of harm, they continue
to act affirmatively to<br>
exacerbate the climate crisis. Youth Plaintiffs, most of whom
cannot vote, therefore seek<br>
this Court’s judgment and redress... <br>
- -<br>
10. Here too, because Defendants have used their governmental
authority to create a state<br>
energy system that causes unparalleled harms to Montana’s children
and youth, it is<br>
incumbent on the courts to bring that system into constitutional
compliance...<br>
- -<br>
18. Rikki’s family hunts deer and elk on the ranch, which they
freeze and eat throughout the<br>
year. Due to rising temperatures and drought conditions, elk range
and herd behaviors have<br>
changed and it has become more difficult for Rikki’s family to
hunt deer and elk on the<br>
ranch...<br>
- -<br>
22. Lander and Badge are also avid fishermen and catch cutthroat
trout, rainbow trout, bull<br>
trout, and other fish in Montana. Their ability to fish is
adversely impacted as the climate<br>
crisis causes abnormally low instream water levels and high water
temperatures, which<br>
harm fish and decrease their population...<br>
- -<br>
27. Plaintiff Sariel S. is 17 years old and lives on the Flathead
Indian Reservation. Sariel is a<br>
member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Sariel’s
family and community<br>
have a deep connection to the natural world, and have a body of
knowledge about the<br>
environment closely tied to the seasons, locations, and
environment. This body of<br>
knowledge, as well as cultural practices and traditions, are
passed on by Elders and family<br>
to Sariel so that her generation and future generations can
continue her community’s<br>
spiritual, cultural, and familial traditions and ways of life...<br>
- -<br>
30. There has been an increase in wildfires on the Flathead
Reservation where Sariel lives, and<br>
she is forced to remain indoors when the smoke is concentrated in
the area to preserve her<br>
overall health and safety...<br>
- -<br>
36. Increased smoke in the summer has impacted Kian’s ability to
play soccer, fish, hike, camp,<br>
and otherwise recreate outside, activities which are central to
his health and foundational<br>
to his family. The smoke makes Kian feel sick, and he is forced to
seek refuge inside.<br>
During the summer of 2017, his family had to cancel a camping trip
because the smoke<br>
conditions were so oppressive and dangerous...<br>
- -<br>
40. In the summer, when Georgi trains for Nordic skiing and winter
competition, the wildfire<br>
smoke limits her ability to train outdoors, which is important for
the sport. Practices in the<br>
summer have been cancelled or curtailed due to smoke from
wildfires in Montana. The<br>
smoke makes it so Georgi cannot fully breathe or train at a high
intensity level; she is<br>
increasingly worried about the long-term effects that the exposure
to heavy smoke while<br>
training has on her health and respiratory system. In or around
August 2017, while training<br>
in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, Georgi had to wear a mask to protect
herself from the ash<br>
that fell from the sky...<br>
- -<br>
45. Witnessing climate change impacts occur around her is
devastating emotionally to Grace<br>
and she is anxious about her future and fearful that her
generation may not survive the<br>
climate crisis. Grace has doubts about whether she would want to
have her own children<br>
given her anxieties about the future...<br>
- -<br>
61. Olivia is profoundly impacted by the climate crisis
emotionally and psychologically. She<br>
experiences bouts of depression when she thinks about the dire
projections of the future,<br>
and doubts whether society and civilization will even exist.
Olivia values her family and<br>
would like to have and raise children of her own, but she
questions whether this is even an<br>
option in a world devastated by the climate crisis. She fears that
if she has children they,<br>
or their children, would suffer or starve. Imagining the future
that she will inherit, or that<br>
her children would live in, and the current suffering that the
climate crisis is already causing<br>
her and others is a heavy burden for her to carry, and Olivia
feels heartbroken and<br>
desperate...<br>
- -<br>
62. Plaintiffs Jeffrey K. and Nathaniel (“Nate”) K. live in
Montana City, Montana. Jeffrey is<br>
six years old and Nate is two years old. Jeffrey has a pulmonary
sequestration. As a result,<br>
Jeffrey is uniquely susceptible to respiratory complications, such
as infections. Nate also<br>
has respiratory issues and, at the age of two, is sick frequently.
Nate has gone to the<br>
emergency room twice due to difficulty breathing. Both Jeffrey and
Nate, given their<br>
unique lung and health conditions, are especially vulnerable to
poor air quality, such as<br>
smoke-filled air caused by wildfires. Climate disruption is
increasing the length and<br>
severity of Montana’s wildfire season which poses a threat to
Jeffrey and Nate’s health,<br>
especially given their young age and respiratory health
conditions..<br>
- -<br>
69. Despite Claire’s work to raise money to install solar panels
on her school, Montana law<br>
limits the size of solar panel arrays. Consequently, Claire’s
school is forced to continue to<br>
buy energy instead of using the cheaper energy generated by solar
panels on site. As a<br>
result, her school has fewer financial resources to spend on
programs, teachers, and<br>
facilities and, therefore, Claire’s educational opportunities have
been diminished by<br>
Montana’s efforts to hinder large-scale solar arrays and instead,
promote fossil fuels as an<br>
energy source...<br>
- -<br>
72. Ruby and Lilian pick wild chokecherries, and use the berries
to make syrup. They also pick<br>
wild huckleberries, raspberries, Oregon grapes, and other wild
fruits. They pick the berries<br>
before Crow Fair; however, recently they have experienced abnormal
weather conditions<br>
and the berries and other fruits are not ripe. The increase in
wildfires in Montana has<br>
restricted access to certain areas where they used to pick
berries...<br>
- -<br>
108. Notwithstanding their longstanding knowledge of the dangers
that climate<br>
disruption and GHG emissions pose, more particularly described
below, Defendants have<br>
developed and implemented a State Energy Policy in Montana for
decades, which involves<br>
systemic authorization, permitting, encouragement, and
facilitation of activities promoting<br>
fossil fuels and resulting in dangerous levels of GHG emissions,
without regard to climate<br>
change impacts or the fundamental rights of Youth Plaintiffs and
future generations of<br>
Montanans. Mont. Code Ann. § 90-4-1001(c)-(g), State Energy
Policy. Moreover, pursuant<br>
to the Climate Change Exception to MEPA, Mont. Code Ann. §
75-1-201(2)(a),<br>
Defendants have deliberately ignored the dangerous impacts of the
climate crisis...<br>
- -<br>
d. Defendant PSC affirmatively acts to promote public utilities
reliant on fossil fuels<br>
and against the public safety in the face of dangerous climatic
changes.<br>
e. Defendants engage in a systemic pattern and practice of issuing
permits, licenses,<br>
and leases that result in GHG emissions without considering how
the additional<br>
GHG emissions will contribute to the climate crisis.<br>
f. Defendants authorize four private coal plants to operate in the
state, and these coal<br>
plants are responsible for 30% of Montana’s energy production.<br>
g. Defendants continue to permit surface coal mining and
reclamation in Montana,<br>
which results in substantial GHG emissions. Defendant DEQ approved
the AM4<br>
expansion of the Rosebud Strip Mine in December 2015. Defendant
DEQ issued a<br>
permit to expand the coal mining operation and reclamation plan at
Bull Mountain<br>
Mine in July 2016.<br>
33 Pursuant to the Climate Change Exception to MEPA, DEQ<br>
refused to analyze how these decisions would aggravate the impacts
of climate<br>
change..<br>
- - <br>
p. Defendants continue to certify and authorize four petroleum
refineries—<br>
Exxon/Mobil, Phillips 66, CHS Laurel, and Calumet Refining—in the
State of<br>
Montana. In 2016, these refineries exported 66.5 million barrels
of crude oil. The<br>
four refineries combined released 2.0 million metric tons of CO2e
in 2018.<br>
39<br>
Pursuant to the Climate Change Exception to MEPA, Defendants have
failed to<br>
disclose to the public the health or climate consequences of these
decisions.<br>
q. Defendants have explicitly adopted and endorsed fuel and fuel
tax requirements for<br>
vehicles, commercial carriers, and aviation that lock in dangerous
levels of GHG<br>
emissions from the transportation sector.40<br>
r. Defendants have exempted certain facilities that burn fossil
fuels from present and<br>
future compliance with GHG emission standards..<br>
- -<br>
178. The psychological harms from the climate crisis are acute and
chronic and they<br>
accrue from impacts such as heat waves, drought conditions,
wildfires, air pollution,<br>
violent storms, the loss of wildlife, watching glaciers melt, and
the loss of familial and<br>
cultural foundations and traditions. Many children, including
Youth Plaintiffs Olivia and<br>
Grace, experience psychological impacts and are distressed from
day to day conditions, <br>
anxious about the climate crisis, and are unable to alleviate
their concerns.143 Youth<br>
Plaintiffs are acutely aware that the window to avoid locking in
irreversible climate change<br>
impacts is closing. As climate disruption transforms communities,
Youth Plaintiffs and<br>
children are likely to experience a feeling that they are losing a
place that is important to<br>
them, which is a phenomenon called solastalgia.144 Solastalgia
describes the gripping sense<br>
of existential loss when treasured places are irreparably damaged
or destroyed as a result<br>
of human carelessness or willful disregard for them, and can cause
profound distress.145<br>
This captures the way Youth Plaintiff Badge feels when knowing
that the area he was<br>
named after is being damaged and degraded due to climate
disruption.<br>
179. The psychological health effects include elevated levels of
anxiety, depression,<br>
post-traumatic stress disorder, increased incidences of suicide,
substance abuse, social<br>
disruptions like increased violence, and a distressing sense of
loss. The psychological<br>
harms caused by the climate crisis can result in a lifetime of
hardships for children...<br>
- -<br>
199. State government officials continue to be aware of the perils
of runaway climate<br>
change. Governor Bullock recently issued an executive order
creating a Montana Climate<br>
Solutions Council (“Council’) to prepare the state for the impacts
of climate change.170<br>
According to the executive order, “[c]limate change poses a
serious threat to Montana’s<br>
natural resources, public health, communities, and economy.”
However, the executive<br>
order neither directs any state agencies to actually reduce GHG
emissions, nor does it direct<br>
the Council to tailor its plan to the best available climate
science. Moreover, the executive<br>
order explicitly states that the Council should consider ways to
safeguard existing energy<br>
assets (which are primarily fossil fuel based). There is no
indication that the executive order<br>
will actually lead to any reduction in Montana’s GHG emissions,
which is further<br>
supported by the fact that the Council should cease to exist by
August 1, 2020...<br>
- -<br>
COUNT III—INDIVIDUAL DIGNITY AND EQUAL PROTECTION<br>
(Mont. Const. Art. II, § 4, § 15)<br>
227. Youth Plaintiffs hereby reallege all paragraphs above as if
set forth fully herein.<br>
228. The dignity clause of Article II, Section 4 commands that,
“The dignity of the<br>
human being is inviolable. No person shall be denied the equal
protection of the laws.”...<br>
- -<br>
(more)<br>
</blockquote>
<p> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://climatecasechart.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2020/20200313_docket-CDV-2020-307_complaint.pdf">http://climatecasechart.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2020/20200313_docket-CDV-2020-307_complaint.pdf</a>
<br>
</p>
<br>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font> </p>
<font face="Calibri"> <i>[The news archive - looking back at Bush
events....]</i><br>
<font size="+2"><i><b>June 11, 2001</b></i></font> <br>
June 11, 2001: In a Rose Garden speech on climate change,
President George W. Bush repeatedly attacks the Kyoto Protocol.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://c-spanvideo.org/program/GlobalClimateChang">http://c-spanvideo.org/program/GlobalClimateChang</a>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010611-2.html">http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010611-2.html</a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
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